Singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz explores sonic textures in collab album 'Polaroid Lovers'

Singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz has dipped her toe into the pool of new sonic textures before, but in her newest album, she's decided to dive right in. What results is "Polaroid Lovers": an innovative rock-pop album that takes listeners from Monteagle, TN to Oaxaca, Mexico.

Jarosz, a Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist and pop artist, is a four-time Grammy award winner and ten-time nominee. Best known for songs "Take Me Back, "Blue Heron" and "Build Me Up From Bones," Jarosz released album "Blue Heron Suite" in 2021.

Continually cementing herself in the world of singer-songwriter powerhouses, Jarosz has released six studio albums, finding herself and her sound as an artist.

And now—she's ready to push those boundaries, expanding her breadth.

Jarosz released her seventh studio album "Polaroid Lovers" on Jan. 26. Instead of her typical gentle sound, Jarosz flirts with rock n' roll, pulsing drum beats, tinges of classic country and even a hint of Bossa Nova on her final track.

"It's a boldness that comes from time and knowing myself better than my early records. I was 17 when I made my first record, so I was still very much getting to know my own musical identity," Jarosz told The Tennessean.

"So now, to kind of feel a little more rooted in that... I know what I can bring to the table and not be so afraid to explore new sounds, but still have it feel like me."

Jarosz's new album, too, reflects her own life changes. After spending seven years living in New York, Jarosz decided to move down to Nashville when the pandemic hit. The relocation caused her to dig into the Nashville music community, eager to work with other songwriters and artists in the city.

The effect is an 11-track album, entirely co-written with a variety of collaborators, including Daniel Tashian, Natalie Hemby, Sarah Buxton, Jon Randall and Ruston Kelley.

"I think that's something that I felt ready to do because I'm at a point where I didn't feel like my voice would get lost in that."

In addition to co-writing, Jarosz said a lot of newness funneled into the way the album was written, produced and recorded. Her collaborator Tashian assembled a crew of musicians alongside Jarosz to meet at The Sound Emporium in Nashville. They played each song on the album through a couple of times and the record quickly came to life.

"I think recording it that way, it captured that energy and it captured that freshness and vitality is almost a good word for it," said Jarosz.

Jarosz's album is undoubtedly rooted in place, bringing her listeners on a sonic pilgrimage alongside her. The album starts off with "Jealous Moon" a song written with Tashian on a porch in the Monteagle Assembly. The track features a catchy, classic rock guitar lick.

The tune, a meditation on the bustling busyness of the natural world and how humans fit into it, Jarosz sings, asking to be left "alone to fly under a jealous moon."

Mid-way through the album, Jarosz takes her listener to the Upper West Side for reflective song "Columbus & 89th." The track feels like walking around the quieter parts of the Big Apple on a rainy day, lost in thought. The song muses on Jarosz's time in New York, with a wistful nostalgia and tenderness.

Jarosz sings, "So give my regards to Broadway / And tell her that I'm in a good place / I can still see the street lights shining in the night / At the corner of Columbus and 89th."

And on the final track of the album, "Mezcal and Lime," Jarosz brings a dreamy, hazey siren song to her listeners, all the way from Mexico's southern city, Oaxaca. The tune, which begins with echoey synths and a swinging rhythm, captures a smokey, intoxicating and romantic time.

The song came to life after Jarosz visited Oaxaca with her husband and friends and went on an educational Mezcal tour. She fell in love with the spirit, its history and the sacred nature of the beverage to Oaxacan locals. Ending the album with "Mezcal and Lime" makes it easy to restart the record over again, effortlessly leading to a second listen.

"It just had that outro that kind of feels as if it could go on forever," said Jarosz. "It just felt like the dreamy, sort of mysterious end to the record."

The album's name, "Polaroid Lovers," which comes from a lyric in the record's second song, "When The Lights Go Out," reflects the transportive nature of Jarosz's record. Each song acts like a polaroid picture, capturing a moment in time before it quickly passes.

"I think that's what's cool about the idea of each song being a snapshot," said Jarosz. "[You're] maybe pulling from these transitions that you're talking about but describing different phases and love stories, or different phases, in your relationship with yourself."

Jarosz's ability to capture these moments in song and weave them together in a record united by the sounds of the octave mandolin and her warbling voice creates a captivating patchwork quilt of an album.

Jarosz embarked on a tour on Jan. 20, starting in Glasgow, UK. She will continue to tour through June, with a stop at Nashville's Brooklyn Bowl on May 12. For more information on Jarosz, her music and her upcoming tour, fans can visit sarahjarosz.com.

Audrey Gibbs covers music at The Tennessean. Reach Audrey at agibbs@tennessean.com or on X at @AudreyRae_Gibbs.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz talks new album 'Polaroid Lovers'